A Box of Matches

Strike On, 2008, oil on linen, 7 x 8 inches

I took a weekend trip home to Hartford to see my parents. As many parts of Connecticut, Hartford is a very quiet sleepy town. I grew up there but I could never get used it, especially now that I live in the city. It's always shocking to go back, it seems like as soon as I set foot in CT land sleep and everything that's tiring takes over me and I do nothing but sleep. This weekend, so not to get bored, I brought with me a small paint box. I've tried doing this before but my old paint box was too big and heavy for me to haul it in the train. On Friday I bought a very small box that holds about eight colors, so I had to make wise choices in terms of a palette that would work for me. After seeing that my brushes were too long for the compartment designed for them, I made use of the space by adding three more tubes of color. Seriously, eitght colors, me? After my long nap on Saturday night I woke up a little refreshed. I needed to get some painting done, I had made it my goal to do a painting for each day of my visit. Looking through the house nothing caught my eye. My mother has filled the house with lots of kitschy little things that pop up here and there throughout. I was not going to paint kitsch! I didn't want to paint the usual tomatoes or onions either. I've done way too many of those. Looking at her sewing table I found a box of matches. A bright little box with the three primary colors on it. This was what I needed. This is the first time I paint something inorganic, and my main focus was on the shapes and color. I didn't care too much about the details of the packaging, all that mattered most was to do something a little different that what I've done before.